BEWARE before you BUY

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amyb_70

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
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Location
upstate, ny
A short true story. I go to 5 different fish stores. 4 of the 5 have sold me CAE and told me they are compatable tank mates for all fish. WRONG! My first experience also a beginner I was losing guppies daily. I originally thought they were sick until eyes started to come missing. With allot of thoughts here we finally realized it was the CAE. In the mean time I was bringing fish who we thought could have been the culprit back. A few members suggested I get Oto's, supposed to be good AE and friendly. So I went to a store who has fish experts and was given what I thought were Oto's. Low & behold I got 3 SAE and 1 CAE. Needless to say I was pretty upset. Note CAE are fast and very hard to catch. Moral to story- know your fish. If you want something find a picture and look closely at distinctive marking. I hate to see anyone go through the aggravation I have. Good luck and happy aquariuming.


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A short true story. I go to 5 different fish stores. 4 of the 5 have sold me CAE and told me they are compatable tank mates for all fish. WRONG! My first experience also a beginner I was losing guppies daily. I originally thought they were sick until eyes started to come missing. With allot of thoughts here we finally realized it was the CAE. In the mean time I was bringing fish who we thought could have been the culprit back. A few members suggested I get Oto's, supposed to be good AE and friendly. So I went to a store who has fish experts and was given what I thought were Oto's. Low & behold I got 3 SAE and 1 CAE. Needless to say I was pretty upset. Note CAE are fast and very hard to catch. Moral to story- know your fish. If you want something find a picture and look closely at distinctive marking. I hate to see anyone go through the aggravation I have. Good luck and happy aquariuming.


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Yeah... It's a shame these pet shops are allowed to give this kind of 'advice'.

I remember as a newbie with a 10G, I asked my LFS for fish that might clean up my rock work or gravel.. They recommended Clown Loaches or a Pleco...
Straight away I whipped out my phone and saw that both of these fish grow to over a foot long, not very kind of them.
2nd LFS, tried to do exactly what they did to you, tried to sell me CAE as Otto's, again came the phone..
Turns out Otto's have a solid black line and CAE have a dotted black line.

Anyway, to cut a long story long.. I buy online now..


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That sucks.

I am not sure how any LFS employee could mistake a CAE oto for an Otocinclus. They are not even really that similar.

I guess I am lucky to have access to local stores with knowledgeable employees and high quality stock.
 
Yes your very lucky. I did find a private owned store who is knowledgeable and has a degree in marine biology. I will be shopping there most of the time. It's tough as his prices are double other stores. But I will know what I'm getting. But a negative note a friend got 2 rope fish who had ick. Idk if that's the store or bad luck.


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I was at a store this weekend (the same store that sold me an illegal glo fish) and this family asked for an agae eater. The guy working there pointed to the CAE and said that guy is great! The man asked "is it aggressive?" They employee said "no. Not at all." Didn't ask how big the tank was. What the tank mates were. Nothing.

The employee walked away and I said "there is conflicting advice about CAE and SAE I would do your own research and know exactly what you are buying." The tank they were putting it in was a 29 tall with some plattys and guppies. I told them to try some amono shrimp and nerite snails. This store had neither. So they left to find an other thankful that I stepped in.


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I was at a store this weekend (the same store that sold me an illegal glo fish) and this family asked for an agae eater. The guy working there pointed to the CAE and said that guy is great! The man asked "is it aggressive?" They employee said "no. Not at all." Didn't ask how big the tank was. What the tank mates were. Nothing.

The employee walked away and I said "there is conflicting advice about CAE and SAE I would do your own research and know exactly what you are buying." The tank they were putting it in was a 29 tall with some plattys and guppies. I told them to try some amono shrimp and nerite snails. This store had neither. So they left to find an other thankful that I stepped in.


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Wow... Where are you when the rest of us need help?! ?


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I'm a newbie myself only been in the hobby since April. Just spend lots of time reading. And I've learned a lot with trial and error. I hate that the pet stores don't make the employees learn about the fish they are selling. But then they would have to pay them more I guess.

I'm not clear at all on the differences between the SAE and the CAE. But I know that I don't want any aggressive fish that isn't going to be a center peace. I know my angels have the potential to get nasty and I'm willing to deal with that.


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buying online

Yeah... It's a shame these pet shops are allowed to give this kind of 'advice'.

I remember as a newbie with a 10G, I asked my LFS for fish that might clean up my rock work or gravel.. They recommended Clown Loaches or a Pleco...
Straight away I whipped out my phone and saw that both of these fish grow to over a foot long, not very kind of them.
2nd LFS, tried to do exactly what they did to you, tried to sell me CAE as Otto's, again came the phone..
Turns out Otto's have a solid black line and CAE have a dotted black line.

Anyway, to cut a long story long.. I buy online now..


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isnt it very expensive to buy online? do you find the fish that make the trip are in better condition health wise than the ones bought at local stores. i would be interested in knowing if its worth it
 
Kuddos Emily

I was at a store this weekend (the same store that sold me an illegal glo fish) and this family asked for an agae eater. The guy working there pointed to the CAE and said that guy is great! The man asked "is it aggressive?" They employee said "no. Not at all." Didn't ask how big the tank was. What the tank mates were. Nothing.

The employee walked away and I said "there is conflicting advice about CAE and SAE I would do your own research and know exactly what you are buying." The tank they were putting it in was a 29 tall with some plattys and guppies. I told them to try some amono shrimp and nerite snails. This store had neither. So they left to find an other thankful that I stepped in.


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Emily I have done the same. i am glad to hear the person left w/o making the purchase. ihope he went online when he got home and found that you gave him great advise... we need more people like that out there.... i also tell people. most appreciate it, but some get pretty agitated with me... hey i learned the hard way, thats the best way to learn sometimes.
 
isnt it very expensive to buy online? do you find the fish that make the trip are in better condition health wise than the ones bought at local stores. i would be interested in knowing if its worth it


We have ordered once on line and most of the fish survived but they were not very good specimens. If you're going to order always order a few more than you need incase of DOAs. They charged us $50 in shipping for out $7 cpds that we only ordered four of, and two were dead, 10 ottos one was DOA and three died the first hour, 2 purple passions are still alive months later, and 15 amono shrimp ordered three molted right away as soon as I moved them to ISO and then died ultimately we ended up with seven shrimp a week after we ordered them.

I prefer to pick my fish out myself and I try different small shops until I found my guy, chad who owns the only store we will buy fish from now. He is willing to order anything he doesn't carry products or fish alike. Even plants, I have $65 worth of plants on special order for Thursday.

Google fish stores with your zip code and see what comes up, there are probably a lot more than you think.


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emily, i have found 2 private owned fish stores and 3 chain stores all within 20-30 miles of me... i will check again but unfortunately not much here. i do like the private owned stores but 1 of them sold me an albino African clawed frog as a dwarf.. this may not be fair of me to the frog, but i was unhappy about that, and i lost several fish from there.. the upside is they will take my unused merchandise and give me store credit . they also do not guraentee. when i walk out the door if it dies im our of luck.. the other store that is private owned is great, the owner went to school for marine biology and said he wont sell fish until he tests the water i have to make sure it is healthy, he also has a huge variety of fish that i like and want but they are 2x more than other stores. which is ok but as for the moment a strict budget its hard. i dont work in the summer so i am ready to go back on 9/2.. i have finally added plants and now i have a bunch of fish i want to trade in and get what i really want. also idk how this happened but my ammonia level spiked very high. i am losing fish like crazy 2 dead this morning, 4 yesterday... death was not the route i wanted to take for elimination... i just tested water 2 days earlier and ammonia was perfect.
 
isnt it very expensive to buy online? do you find the fish that make the trip are in better condition health wise than the ones bought at local stores. i would be interested in knowing if its worth it

It can definitely be expensive to have to fish shipped.

As for the quality of livestock it really depends on who you are buying from. I have got some truly excellent quality fish shipped to me. It is also often the only way to acquire some of the more rare fish.
 
Naaa its about the same price, only issue is shipping. They usually have DOA policy if the shipment was on time and you take pics.

Fish get shipped to suppliers and either picked up or shipped to the store so its funny people are worried about them getting shipped to your house. Your basically skipping the store step.
 
That's the story. I have seven tanks now and the ONLY the tank giving me trouble with water quality is my big one, that 180 is always getting something wrong. Any chance there is some dead fish you're missing in there?

How big is the tank?


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my 29 gallon

this is my 29 gallon that i am hoping to keep. i had a major ammonia spike for some odd reason which i am unsure why but in the past week i have lost 4 guppies, 3 endler, 1 bumblebee goby, 1 silver molly, 1 angel fish. i am assuming i was over stocked but at this point i would say i am no longer overstocked. i was feeling confidant as things were stable so i started to add some plants and really like them. but still dont understand the spike.
 

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Naaa its about the same price, only issue is shipping. They usually have DOA policy if the shipment was on time and you take pics.

Fish get shipped to suppliers and either picked up or shipped to the store so its funny people are worried about them getting shipped to your house. Your basically skipping the store step.


The DOA policy is usually they will give you an other fish, but you must pay shipping, $50 for that $7 fish that died.

As for the shipping to the store, that's a good point, but sometimes like my local guy, he gets his angels from a local breeder, same with a lot of his ciclids. But also, I'd rather let the store pay the shipping and get to go down and pick the healthiest of the bunch or the color/gender I need.


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unique is great

Naaa its about the same price, only issue is shipping. They usually have DOA policy if the shipment was on time and you take pics.

Fish get shipped to suppliers and either picked up or shipped to the store so its funny people are worried about them getting shipped to your house. Your basically skipping the store step.

thats what i would like, something that is rare and unique.. an aquarium that will catch peoples eyes and be in awe when they see the fish and how pretty some are.
 
this is my 29 gallon that i am hoping to keep. i had a major ammonia spike for some odd reason which i am unsure why but in the past week i have lost 4 guppies, 3 endler, 1 bumblebee goby, 1 silver molly, 1 angel fish. i am assuming i was over stocked but at this point i would say i am no longer overstocked. i was feeling confidant as things were stable so i started to add some plants and really like them. but still dont understand the spike.


What do you have left? What are the water parameters now?


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That's the story. I have seven tanks now and the ONLY the tank giving me trouble with water quality is my big one, that 180 is always getting something wrong. Any chance there is some dead fish you're missing in there?

How big is the tank?


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my tank is a 29 gal. i would have to say no as after i found out about the ammonia spike i did a 90% water change and added stabilizer as i was advised. i look a few times a day for dead fish.. kinda sad.. can the plants be doing this
 
perimiters

What do you have left? What are the water parameters now?


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not sure what they are right now. i did the change last night. i dont have any reg test strips left at home. i was going to take a water sample to the store close to me and see what my readings are... i wonder how long it takes to get the ammonia back to normal levels
 
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